The government shutdown hasn’t seemed to affect a lot of day-to-day life for most people in the country, though some people have been furloughed. Even those people aren’t too offended since they are guaranteed to get paid back when it is all over. The real concern that most people have is the debt ceiling. If action isn’t taken, our economy could be destroyed. So the government should, I think, be focusing all on that, right? Well apparently they still have plenty of time to worry about cell phone bans and patent infringement.

Some Samsung devices still banned

The Wall Street Journal points out that that Obama administration had to figure out whether or not to keep a ban on some Samsung devices that break patent laws. Rather than spending their time focused on keeping our country from crippling under economic collapse, they decided it was a good use of time to worry about this. Though I’m sure it would have been a perfectly good thing for a government to worry themselves about if not already focused on more important matters at hand.

The reason why the ban is so significant is that the US was unwilling to uphold bans in the past in fear of being perceived as favoring US companies. The US government can veto bans within 60 days of the ban being put in place. Apparently, the US is no longer concerned about that since the bans for the Samsung devices were upheld.

The Samsung-Apple battle

Apple claims that Samsung has stolen quite a bit of technology from them, which has turned into a heated debate. Apple has sued Samsung, Samsung has sued Apple, and it is just a big mess. Every nation has been dealing with it separately to determine whether or not patent infringement really occurred. Sometimes Apple wins and sometimes Samsung wins. It’s really a free-for-all with those companies and lawsuits.

Why this is not good, says Samsung

Samsung thinks the decision was a poor one because it means that American competition will be limited and give Apple a monopoly, according to USA Today. When it comes to economics, he is right. The more competition, the better the prices for consumers and the more options to choose from. The only thing he forgot to mention is that when a company files a patent, no other company can use that technology. So, maybe it would be better for the American people because prices would be lower and options would be greater, but it isn’t very great for Apple. The reason for a patent is that someone else shouldn’t be able to use the technology you spent time and money creating without having to put in that same time and money, which is what Samsung allegedly has been doing.

Not really all that bad for you

A couple more Samsung phones or pieces of technology wouldn’t really make much of a difference in your options. You can buy almost anything you could want in a smartphone by just walking in and looking at everything for sale. If you want a new phone with better options, just walk into any phone carrier, and they will help you.